March 17, 2014

Familia, (POR FIN (Finally))

Well, it finally happened, we got our first baptism here in Xalapa Mexico, in the ward ofMacuiltépetl. It took a long time and we are excited because it was a 12 year old girl whose family is part member and inactive.  Her mom is not a member and a brother is not a member, so we are going to continue to work with them to get them baptized. We were so excited! She is an amazing girl and progressed really fast but what was even more amazing is that her mom let her be baptized, that was our biggest fear.  We fasted and prayed before we went to go and ask her for the final permission and I don’t know how we got her to say yes, but she finally said yes, and Aranza was so excited. Her baptism was amazing too. There were a lot of people there to support her. This ward is truly amazing, even though it is really small, and there are not a lot of members. The chapel was filled with people to support Aranza with her baptism.

My baptism from Sunday. 3-16-2014 Aranza-12 years old

Well we are feeling a lot better now has missionaries, because yes we did baptize but also, because we had a district class this last week and we practiced contacting and me and my comp were really worried ‘cause we have contacted a lot of people and I mean a lot, but we have never really had a lot of success, but as we started talking about ways we could contact better and when we practiced, we realized that we have been contacting to the best of our abilities and in a good way as well. I mean sure we can always do better. We can always show more love or listen to the spirit more, but we also have to remember that it is up to the people that we contact to accept our message. We cannot force them to accept our message, we can only do the best we can and leave it in their hands.

We have not found a whole lot of new people this week, but we are going to work really hard with the few that we have and try and talk more to their families.  We are excited. There are a lot of things that we have to do and there is a lot that we have to do better.

We had interviews with President this week and they were interesting because, well mine lasted a whole of two minutes I understand that he is busy and that we have over two hundred missionaries but I did not feel very edified through the whole process, but I am grateful for the things that he has taught me. I know that his direction comes through inspiration and revelacion for the mission.  He is a great guy, just a very busy guy.

I have almost finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish. It is really hard to read sometimes and I don’t understand everything but I am really amazed by how much my Spanish has improved and how much more I have learned by r

eading slower and in Spanish.  I love every single one of those prophets and their examples. I wish I had read more before my mission when I had time because now, well, I don’t have all the time I would like to have to read and really study the scriptures, but it is a blessing and I do understand more when I read and study for my investigators.

Well other than that, nothing really exciting has happened this week, but it has been amazing how fast the time flies in the mission. I now have 7 months and working towards 8 and it feels like two or three months have gone by. I guess that just means I’ve got to get to work.

Well, love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Elder Monsivais

One bottle of head and shoulders last 7 and a half months this is a mission supply of head and shoulders for me